But kudos on the manager. He realized that it had to be done, then went ahead and did it without ordering anyone else to do so.

If you can't take pride in a job well done as a store clerk, why the hell does anyone think you'll take pride in a job well done as a developer? That motivation is internal.

This is an absurd argument. They have nothing to do with each other. If you'd rather be a store clerk then why should expect you to have much motivation or competence to be a developer?

There's a word for people who throw tantrum's and walk off of a clerk job because they were asked to sweep a parking lot: privileged.

There's a reason job postings all say "And other duties as assigned"

Or do what everybody else does, and contract with one of those companies that comes through a couple of nights a week with one of those parking lot sweeping trucks?

The thing is, to a first approximation, nobody asks employees to go out and sweep the god-damn parking lot with a broom. This particular manager was just being a dick for the sake of being a dick. And I'm not somebody you can bully like that, because I will happily tell you to go fuck yourself and walk out. shrug

There's a reason job postings all say "And other duties as assigned"

And do you actually think that people take that to literally mean anything? Is there no task whatsoever that you would refuse to do? If so, I'd say you are a very strange person, as most people in my experience do have a line. That line is going to vary a lot from person to person, but I don't think I know a single person who would honestly say "Yes, I will do anything for my boss based on that clause in the job description."

I've been in a shitload of positions where I was assigned menial tasks for a variety of reasons. In some of those. positions I could say no without drama, in some I could quit, in some I could say "Yes sir/ma'am", in some I could delegate, in some I could outsource. In every case, I could respectfully and tactfully ask why.

"Is there any specific area that needs extra attention?"

"Will somebody else be covering my standard duties while I do this?"

"Is this going to be part of my regular duties or is this just to keep me busy?"

... and so on. Tone matters depending on the relationship you have with the manager. But a violent reactive act and profanity doesn't seem like the best way regardless of how righteous you feel years down the road.

I wouldn't hire you if this was your "tell me about a time you dealt with adversity in the workplace" interview answer, that's for sure.

What next, will he ask you to go grab shopping carts?!?!

Despite your rationalization, it's not uncommon to have the parking lot cleaned up and swept on a regular basis. I've done it for restaurants I worked at as a teenager, for example.

Your problem is being too sensitive.

Was a decent change of pace, didn’t mind it. Would have done it as long as mgr wasn’t a jerk about it.

That's for the business owner to figure out, why would OP even want to concern himself with stuff like this?

The thing is, I didn't then, nor do I now, care about what he thought hard about or not. That wasn't the point. I just wasn't going to be the one doing it. What happened beyond that is neither here nor there as far as I'm concerned.

You misunderstand. I have no problem sweeping. If he'd asked me to sweep in the store, that would have been fine. I did that pretty much every day anyway. It was more that the *fucking parking lot* doesn't need to be swept in the first place. It's a parking lot! This guy was just being a jackoff, which is why my response was as seemingly hyperbolic as it was.

Sorry, that's my fault for eliding some details in the story, because I was in a hurry earlier.